ANGOLA: Invisible and vulnerable

LUANDA, 19 June 2008 (PlusNews) - The ceremony didn't go unnoticed by Angola's newspapers. “Shameless,” screamed the cover of one of the country's weekly news magazines. “Abominable,” read the headline of another.

Angolan couple, Bruna and Chano paid a high price for making their homosexual relationship public.

The two young men met when they were both living in the Luanda neighbourhood of Bês. After seeing each other for three and a half years, they decided to hold a ceremony to make their relationship feel official, although doing so legally was not an option.

On May 6, 2005, 21-year-old Aleksander Gregório (Chano), and 23-year-old Bruno*, better known as Bruna, signed a letter of commitment in the presence of a retired notary.

All aspects of the ceremony were discussed in minute detail in newspapers and café conversation: the fact that Bruna wore a wedding dress, the party's guest list and, above all, the couple's sexuality.

Newspapers used terms such as “shameless” to describe the young men's relationship.

Despite the attacks, Chano and Bruna held out and remain together, five years after beginning their relationship.

The love that dares not say its name

Data from an epidemiological study carried out in 2007 by the National Institute for the Fight Against AIDS (INLS) showed that five percent of all HIV infections in Angola were among men who had sex with men (MSM).

These numbers, however, do not make the subject any less taboo.

According to Américo Kwanonoka, an anthropologist, "Angolan society is not yet prepared to accept homosexuals.”

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